


Prologue: Entrapment Always Finds Him

by Ultimate_Nerd_Lady



Series: Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Hajime [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: AU where Hajime is in Another Episode, Also Hajimes gonna be working to take down the woh from the inside nbd nbd, M/M, Monaca is herself, PTSD, Trauma, he escaped the Kamukura project, komahina are looking away from their trauma like: I do not see it, old high school romances being lit anew, the story is gonna get heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26640175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultimate_Nerd_Lady/pseuds/Ultimate_Nerd_Lady
Summary: Hajime Hinata had had enough of the tragedy outside, but not quite enough to be happy about being locked away for a year.Well actually hold on to that fact. That might’ve been preferable.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Series: Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Hajime [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938124
Comments: 23
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

I woke up screaming that day.

Bursting up from bed in a cold sweat, arms wrapped around myself to try to calm myself down by any means necessary, and slowly transferring from screeching, to just hyperventilating, until I could finally calm myself to normal. The nightmare I had was fading from my mind but piecing it together in my head… ah. Of course. It was about  _ that _ place. I felt the scar on my head. Still there. But I was still me.

With a sigh I looked around my room. Nothing really new today, or any day for that matter. And nobody to talk about my problems with, since nobody had come into this apartment to see me, nor had I left the place in a year. Not because I’m a shut in mind you.

I stepped out of bed and looked out the window, wondering what the outside world was doing. But I couldn’t join. There were bars blocking the exit.

I’m Hajime Hinata. A worthless nobody. And I’ve been imprisoned here for a year. 

Once I had gotten dressed, I sat down on the couch to read some magazines. I’d read these things to the point of memorization and was damned sick of them. There were some others I had hidden away in a panic attack when I saw  _ her _ face on the covers. But eventually I got bored and read them, which was torture, but I built up tolerance over time. Yeah, bad idea, but I didn’t have much else to do in here. Who knew being imprisoned could get so boring after a while?

It certainly didn’t start that way. When I first woke up here, I was scared out of my wits, certain this was the end, and tried every trick in the book. Looking for escape routes, trying to find a way to contact the outside, and nada was found. Eventually it came down to me just kicking and screaming at the door in tears, pleading for somebody, anybody, by god if anyone’s there, please help me. But either nobody could hear, or I was just being ignored.

I gave up eventually. I was here to stay, and for the time being I wasn’t being killed which was way more security than I had in the outside world. And I’d learned to get used to it, seeing how I didn’t exactly have anybody who’d send out a search party for me. My spirit had been successfully broken, and now I was just sitting in a place I still knew nothing about, waiting for breakfast.

_ Ding-Dong _

Speak of the devil. I got up and watched as lo main was slid through a compartment into a tray at the door (before you ask the compartment is one way. Yes, I tried. No, it didn’t work.) and took it, sighing that I didn’t get any rice.

For my first few weeks here, I refused to take any of the food. I was worried it’d been poisoned or something. But, just like with everything else, I gave in, and started eating up a storm. For what it was worth, my captors were some pretty good cooks. And I think if they wanted to poison me I would be dead by now.

This was just life now. It’d been a year so I wasn’t expecting any changes. Alone. Confined. And miserable. That was my fate-

_ THUD THUD THUD _

I nearly fell out of my seat! Who was causing that racket? My captors only bothered coming to give me food so-

Wait. If it wasn’t my captors…

I’d never sprung out of my seat so fast in my life. My feet carried me all the way across the room, jumping on the coffee table and making my way towards the exit. I was knocking back on the door banging my fists like when I first got here.

“Hey! My name is Hajime Hinata! I’ve been imprisoned here!” I shouted “Can you hear me?!”

_ THUD THUD THUD _

“If you can hear me, I need your help! I…”

I knew nothing about the situation, or what was outside this door, if it was safe to come out, or if anybody had cared about me so much to help but…

“I don’t want to live like this anymore!”

Like a monkey's paw answer to my prayers, 3 sharp points pierced through the door. I gasped as they stopped just short of my right eye. One inch closer and I wouldn’t have depth perception anymore.

I backed up in fear as the talons tore their way through the wooden door like paper, and a glowing red light could be seen through the holes. Okay Hajime. Remember your survival instincts.

I backed up, maintaining a fighting stance as the door was kicked down and mechanical noises whirred as it moved closer revealing it to be…

A cartoon bear. It looked like a rejected cereal mascot, with one side white, and one side black, that side sporting the red light I saw before as it’s eye to compliment its cartoonishly evil grin. I actually refrained from my stance because of it.

“What the…”

“I’m gonna getcha!” A mechanized voice emitted from the creature, running up to me. I gasped as it came near, quickly grabbing the coffee table sporting the magazines and shoving it in its way, to which it hit and fell over like a cartoon character. I breathed in and out a few times, trying to comprehend what just happened before the thing looked up. I wasn’t sticking around for that. I ran past it, and through the open door which I suddenly didn’t care about as much as before, taking in my newfound freedom to decide where I should run for safety.

I decided to book it down the halls of the building, noticing soirées of knocked down doors and fires in apartments. If I’d stayed in there, I might’ve become roasted chestnut.

At one point, the fire was spreading out on the path. Dead end. It was time to turn the other way. But turning just meant getting greeted with a nasty surprise.

“Hiya!”

Crap. Of course that stupid bear had caught up. There was one option. Try to sprint past the thing. I wound myself up, (not too much seeing as I was on a bit of a time crunch) and booked it. The bear blocked my path and I ran straight into a ball of metal, falling on my backside and looking up in horror. Winnie the Serial Killer was crawling onto me, his claws brandished and ready to strike and rip out my throat...

Then all of a sudden, he fell to pieces. I stared in shock as the thing just suddenly crumbled into bits, coating my body.

“What the…”

“So. Who are you?”

I looked up, greeted with a boy with blonde hair. He was looking at me with disgust, and holding what looked like a megaphone.

“... Who the hell are you?” I retorted standing up “Are you my captor?!”

“Tch.” The boy gave a look like I was beneath him. What a bitch. He looked YOUNGER than me! “I’m Byakuya Togami. Future Foundation. And who are you? You don’t look like any of the captives.”

“What do you mean I don’t look like any of the captives?! I was held captive for a year!”

The boy rolled his eyes, like I just told him the sky was purple.

“We can figure you out later. There’s an elevator down the hall. Go.”

“Excuse me?! There’s a-“

Suddenly a green light emitted from the boys megaphone. He pointed it at the nearby fire alarm and released the trigger causing a waft of green energy to fire and cause the sprinklers to start.

“There. You can quit whining and leave.”

Ugh. I was not gonna be bossed around by this arrogant twink.

“You can’t just send me off with no clue what’s going on! Why are you here?! What are those things?! Who even are you?!”

“Constantly asking questions is not going to help you.” He scoffed “Just go to the department store down the block from here. You’ll find your answers there from my associate. And to protect yourself...”

He took out another megaphone and tossed it to me.

“What. I’m supposed to shout them to death with this?”

“This gun can send coded signals to machines to properly deal with them.” Blondie (I refuse to call him by his name) said “Just go there.”

“Can’t I stay and have you answer me now if I can fight with this?” I asked.

“You’ll only get in the way.” 

My cheeks burned with rage and the want to put this asshole in his place but… I just turned and ran. No point arguing when I already knew he was right.

I found the elevator, mashing the button to the lobby and walked outside for the first time in a year.

Maybe that’d be nice if I wasn’t greeted by hell on earth. 

Blood and gore littered the streets as copies of the bear patrolled the area amongst broken machinery. One dug their claws into a car and came out dripping red. I held my breath, not knowing how to react until I saw the building in the distance. Survive first, think about horrible cruel reality later.

I managed to slink about enough to go unnoticed by the bears. I had gotten used to sneaking around in my short time outside during the incident before I got caught. And once I was close enough, I booked it up the stores steps, running in, covered in sweat and close to hyperventilating.

“Hello sir. How can I help you?” The woman at the register smiled.

“B-b-b…” I stumbled up to the desk, placing my sweaty palms on the surface.

“... Sir. Are you-“

“Bears!” I screamed “Tons of murderous mechanical bears! Outside!”

“Sir what are you talking about?”

I looked to see a window next to her concealed by curtains.

“Look outside! They’re killing people in the streets!”

“Sir, calm down. You’re disturbing the customers!”

“The customers might die! They can break into buildings!” I shouted “Ultimate Despair has taken this area! You gotta go!”

“Okay, you know what?” The woman snapped “I’ll make a 911 call. Just for you.”

“Thank you…” I looked down catching my breath as the woman gave me the evil eye, taking the phone and turning away.

“Yes? 911? Some strange boy came in and just-“

_ CRASH _

Too much happened in the span of seconds. A bear broke through the window and I quickly dropped to the floor to avoid broken glass as screams ran through the store. Murder bears, as I had lovingly dubbed them, flooded the area, and I could hear sounds of stabbing, screeching, and blood spatters. At one point I noticed the woman who called the police on me looking down, her eyes opened wide in no emotion, as blood dripped down her face. I was gonna be sick. 

Why was this happening to me? I was better off dying in that apartment. I closed my eyes desperately trying to ignore the part when I felt drops on my face. Any second now, the jig would be up. I’d be found and ripped to shreds. There was no hope for me.

I looked back up at the woman, her eyes turning red from the massive amount of blood coming from them, and behind her, a murder bear stood, his claws dripping red. I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming, and leaned back on- the megaphone.

“... This is a gun isn’t it?” I whispered “I can beat them with this.”

The only thing keeping me from the jaws of death was using a gun I had no idea how to use. And as unappealing as that sounded, it was better than waiting around for it.

“Okay…” I slowly picked myself up brandishing it “Let’s see what this baby can do.”


	2. Chapter 2

_ The world doesn’t end with a bang, but with the realization you can’t go back. _

_ When Hopes Peak Academy covered up riots amongst its Reserve Course for attempting human experimentation on its students, they hoped to smother the problem. Let it run its course while they stamped over those poor innocent kids who found out they were just cattle in their eyes. _

_ But  _ she _ didn’t let them die out. She exploited their righteous anger, and spread them across the world. She had an army. _

_ When news of Hopes Peaks disgusting practice and the riots spread online, more people acted. Until Hopes Peak Academy, the school once regarded as this worlds hope went up in flames. Needless to say people weren’t happy. Hopes Peaks supporters started attacking anyone who they thought might be connected to the riots. Groups of people of all values, scared of death, came together to destroy the strong who could hurt them. So people would take revenge when their beloved were killed. _

_ This was not helped by the Ultimate Despairs. Nobody could pin down who the elusive army were, but it became clear they didn’t have sides or values in this conflict, just a sick twisted love of the girl who incited this. They stoked conflict, so they could coat the world in a thick icky layer of despair, with series of murder, teaching the ways of the one who had become a goddess to this conflict, as more people who were trying to find some kind of light in the violence came to listen and spread the values. More and more despair grew in the soil, so much so that people would watch news about the most heinous crimes you can imagine, while eating a nice meal. _

_ And then a war started. Not a war for values or religion. Just a war for despair's sake. The world had been thoroughly destroyed. _

_ And the human experimentation victim who started this all? _

_ Well, he pretty much had everything that happened coming to him. _

~~~~~~~~~~~

So the gun had a dial, with different colors and kanji written on each section. At the moment, it was turned to ‘break’.

I tip-toed through the area (and had to hold back a scream when I realized I kicked a body) and held up the gun to a murder bear with his back turned. Pressing my hand on the trigger caused a blue light to emit from it, and releasing sent that wave of energy. When it hit the murder bear, it fell apart.

“Huh…” next I turned to ‘move’, noticing it was green like the one that set off the sprinklers in the apartment building. I aimed towards the nearby arcade machine and fired, causing it to start lighting up with pac man. So I probably couldn’t kill anything with this, but if I ever needed to start a tv I couldn’t find a power button for, it could do that.

… That was a joke. You can laugh.

“Attention Towa City!” I heard a news report from the tv “The city is overrun! Get to safety as soon as- AUGH!”

I decided not to look at that tv.

I noticed a murder bear coming out of one of the aisles and quickly ducked into the one I was closest to. Time to go for the next power: I aimed at murder bear pressing and releasing the trigger to send pink energy towards it and then…

It started fortnite dancing. What the actual fuck. I looked at the dial. ‘Dance’. What the hell would I use this for?

Okay whatever. He wasn’t coming towards me. So I switched back to ‘break’ and shooted my shot. Gone. Nice going Hajime. Maybe you’d survive this after- oh god. That person had his intestines laying on the floor. His face was twisted in agony as gore spread across his suit which bore the same crest as blondies.

I turned towards the racks to evacuate my stomach onto the kits of makeup, backing away with a mess dripping onto my shoes.

“Ugh…” I leaned my head back “Why… why is this happening?”

“Aw, look at the stupid emo kid whine.”

My eyes shot open and I turned to see a murder bear standing next to me. I shouted jumping back and backing away but I couldn’t aim with him keeping himself coming closer. I eventually noticed something on the dial. ‘Knock back’ I turned to it, pressed the trigger, and three bursts came out, tossing the murder bear onto the floor. From there I turned to ‘burn’. Holding the trigger, a rapid fire of red shots came out until the thing stopped moving. Once I was safe, I caught my breath against the wall, tearing up at the realization I almost died. I shambled along looking for the exit and- oh god. In that aisle there were three. If they spotted me I was done for. And just using break or burn would alert the other two. I had to try something risky.

‘Paralyze’ I turned the dial too, aiming, firing, and electricity burst so far and wide it took out all of them. Thank god that gamble paid off. I had an old friend who’d call it luck. Not that he would so much as look at me after where we left off. I subconsciously touched the scar on my forehead.

At least I could remember him now.

I looked back at the dial. It might be a good idea to test the next one of these out. I turned to ‘detect’ and pulled the trigger, projecting a purple light. No idea what the hell this did. That left…

‘Link’. I turned the dial and ducked around the corner finding a murder bear hanging with a friend. I held my breath. Aim… fire. A burst of all kinds of colors came out, and when it hit, the side of the megaphones handle opened up with a control panel. I marveled as I used it to walk around, and sure enough I was able to attack with it. The next monokuma over was reduced to a pile of scrap metal. So I ended the link and used break. 

“This gun is amazing…” I whistled “I’m safe as long as I have this!”

“Hello? Is anybody there?!”

I gasped. That wasn’t the murder bears voice. Somebody was alive here!

“Uh… where are you?!” I called out.

“I-I’m here! Who are you?”

I looked and found a child, with darkly colored hair that was frosted purple at the ends, crying his eyes out.

“Hey! It’s okay, it’s okay!” I ran up to him and squeezed his hand “Who are you? Were you with your mommy and daddy?”

“My… mommy and daddy…” he sniveled, closing his eyes…

Then when he opened them they were completely free of tears “Nah, I already killed them myself!”

“Huh?” I backed up.

“Yeah.” The boy stood up and walked with a stride in his step “But not here. It was a looooooooooooong time ago! You see, I was the heir to an evil organization- and not some lousy Ultimate Despair, garbage, we ran waaaaaay before that- and to take the throne, I murdered them! Wait but don’t tell anyone that, it’s a secret.”

“... Uh-Huh.” An active imagination on this one “Can you tell me what actually happened?”

“WHAAAAAAAA?! You don’t believe me?!” The boy puffed out his lip his eyes watering “WAAAAAAAAAAH! You’re so mean!”

“H-hey! Quiet! What if they’re still here?!”

“You’re telling me to shut up?! You think it’s unimportant?!”

“I- Well I just-“

“Oh it’s fine.” He smiled brightly “I’m like, a toooootal liar about everything, so it totally makes sense you don’t trust me! But don’t worry about any more monokumas here.”

“Monokumas?” I questioned.

“Yeah. They’ve been like, all over the place since the war started. What, have you been living under a rock?”

“I was locked in an apartment!”

“So? I’ve escaped several high security prisons with my wit and intelligence alone.” He twirled so his back faced me as he talked in a smug voice “How pathetic are you that you can’t get out of one lousy apartment?”

Yeah right. Like anybody would lock a 12 year old in a high security prison. It seemed like this kid wasn’t concerned with the magnitude of the situation. But I guess that’s what happens when you grow up in times like these.

“Whatever. So how do you know we’ll be safe?” 

“Well, I happen to have an inventor working under me. She’s a filthy little bitch but she’s waaaaaaaaaaay cooler than those Towa Group elitists.” He shrugged “She’s given me a prototype for Monokuma trackers. Right now, this place is clear. I’m surprised she hasn’t made it into a vibrator for all her dirty sexual fantasies.”

“Easy on the language.” I told him.

“Oh shut up. I’m a kid but I’m still powerful!” He puffed out his cheeks “You can’t just give me orders because you’re older!”

“But I’m still older than you. I’m 18. That means I’m your senior and technically an adult.”

“But do you know why kids love the delicious taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?” He smiled.

“Shut up.”

“What’s this gun by the way?” He snatched it out of my hands oohing and ahing at the design, “Dang! Even Towa Group couldn’t make something this cool!”

“Okay what is Towa Group?” I questioned.

“Ugh! You ask too many questions! You know most people who do that to me end up at the bottom of the ocean with cement shoes. You’re lucky I don’t call on my goons to exterminate you.” I rolled my eyes “Yes Towa Group. They’re kind of famous for building some air purifiers that got rid of the polluted air in the area. Then they weeded out a lot of the Ultimate Despair in the area so those guys don’t touch this city now.” He looked to the side “At least for a while they didn’t.”

“They just got rid of the tragedy in one city and didn’t think to help anyone else?”

“Being the one place in the world where there isn’t a constant looming despair means the property value is PRETTY high.” He held up the gun like a megaphone and winked while he shouted into it “That’s capitalism baby!”

“Hey, that’s not a toy.” I snatched it, which he properly accepted.

“One thing I can’t pin down the reasons behind is the monokumas won’t attack me.” He sighed “Usually they attack everyone. Men, women, children, people who think Pokemon Sword and Shield were good, everyone in between, but when the riots started, I realized these things are not attacking me.”

“Maybe they don’t wanna attack the ruler of an evil organization.” I said half-jokingly “Who knows what’ll happen if your minions find out.”

“Oh, they wouldn’t care.” He smiled “Nobody will cry for me if I die.”

The way he said that with a smile on his face…

_ “It’s true! I’m too worthless to be mourned!” _

I remembered that smile, those words, him, and I began trying to open my mouth and piece something together but-

“Raaaaah! Raaaaaah! I’m a Zombie!”

Stricken by the sudden voices we looked to the tv. There was a red-headed child in sports clothes shouting loudly as he played with the anchorman’s corpse.

“I’m gonna eat your brains! Aaaaaugh!”

“What the hell?” I let slip from my mouth. How did some kids manage to get on the tv? And how were they so comfortable playing with a corpse when this city was supposed to be peaceful? I looked at the young boy who made an ‘I dunno’ sound.

“Hey, Masaru.” A boy in a full head mask said playing with a few paintbrushes “Do zombies really eat brains? Or is that just a myth?”

“Mmm… who cares!” The boy proclaimed “Not me!”

“Zombies are so not cute!” A girl with pink pigtails shouted “They’re gross and grimey and gorey! I’d hate to be chased by one!”

“Well maybe… I’m gonna eat your brains Kotoko!” The boy started wheeling the anchorman’s chair around while the girl made shrieks.

“Oh nooooooo! Don’t kill me! I’m too cute to die!”

I cringed. This was far too tone deaf.

“Guys quit fooling around.” A boy in a checkered suit and scarf walked on screen waggling a finger “This is for the Warriors of Hopes announcement. It’s serious business.”

“Oh, lighten up Nagisa!” The sporty boy shouted “Or I’m gonna eat your brains!”

“Oh nooooooooo!” Pigtails shouted.

“Quit it!” The boy in the suit tried to outmaneuver the other until Pinky crashed into him and the chair ran into both of them so they fell on the floor in a heap.

“Ugh… Masaru!”

I could see the bone sticking out from the anchorman’s corpse. What was wrong with these children? Finally a girl in a wheelchair came onscreen and faced the camera.

“Attention! Towa City!” The girl smiled a grin that went just an inch too far “We, the Warriors of Hope, have decided to take this dirty, wretched, rotten, pathetic city, and make it a paradise for children. As a result, all adults have to be exterminated!” She waved her hand in a cheerful gesture “ _ Bye-Byyyyyyyyye!” _

The feed cut off. Me and the boy were left staring at each other as the deafening beep filled the halls of the store.


	3. Chapter 3

“What was that?!” I stormed over to the boy “Did you have something to do with this?”

“What? No…” He looked genuinely fearful “I mean…”

And then he put his arms behind his back, walking backwards with a smile.

“My organization consists of big muscley goons! No way I’d have some kids join my ranks!”

“This is serious!” I shouted.

“So am I!” He puffed out his cheeks “Speaking of muscles you should totally join me! You’ve got some nice broad shoulders.”

“Stop playing games goddamit!” I picked up the little squirt who gasped with surprise his legs kicking “Who. Are. You?”

“Well technically I’m a descendant of the Norse God Loki…” His grin faltered by a minute amount, but he wasn’t as good as keeping a smile as  _ he  _ was “But… you can call me Kokichi. Kokichi Ouma. And I can promise you that for all my lies I am too prestigiously evil to be working with those creeps on tv.”

… What was I doing? Had I seriously sunken down to the level of threatening an innocent kid because of my own hang ups? ‘Not cool Hajime.’ As  _ he _ would say.

“... Good enough for me.” I set him down. “Sorry. I let my confusion and frustration get the best of me and that was wrong. I’d understand if you wanted to get away from me.”

“Are you kidding me?!” The boy got WAY too into my personal space with a huge smile covering his features “You’re so cool and strong senpai! Where did you get all that strength and fury?!”

“I… don’t want to talk about it.” I looked to the side “But I really am sorry about that.”

“Don’t be!” He saluted me clicking his heels together “It’s perfectly normal and healthy to distrust people in this situation! Especially someone with a cute widdle baby face like me! I could be those kids' secret spy for all you know!”

“... Are you?”

“Yes, no, maybe so, who says don’t eat cookie dough!”

“Lots of people. It’ll give you salmonella.”

“Oh whatever. I’m calling you No Fun Allowed-Chan!”

“That’s not my name. My name is Hajime. Hajime Hinata.”

“Fine. Then you’re Hinata-Chan!” 

“Drop the ‘chan’. I’m older than you.”

“Fine, fine, Hinata-senpai! Gosh you’re boring!” He groaned “And a bit of advice Hinata-senpai?”

“Yes?”

His smile darkened. Darkened to a horrifying degree as his pupils expanded and his smile grew a creepy amount of long.

“Don’t give away your name to untrustworthy strangers unless you wanna be Six Feet Under-Senpai. Can your boring little pea brain get that clear?”

His features were giving me the warning to run. Like a vortex swirling and threatening to pull me to my death if I didn’t get away fast. Then they returned to normal.

“I’m Kokichi Ouma by the way!”

“Uh… right.” I took a better look at the boy in front of me. His shirt kind of looked like a broken straitjacket, with colored buttons shaped like card suits clumsily sewn in, and his pants looked similarly like hospital garb, while his shoes were bright purple loafers that clashed with the whites of his clothing. “So how did you get here?”

“Well, I was simply sitting back on my throne and eating peeled grapes being fed to me.” He smiled “Then! Assassins! Dun dun dun! They came to take out the head of evil that is me! Hashtag crying emoji… crying emoji… crying emoji…”

“I get it.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Wait.” He held up a finger “Crying emoji… crying emoji… crying emoji! That’s six emojis! For more, make an in app purchase!” He winked “The assassins were super powerful, and I had to run aaaaaaaaall the way here to Towa! A place where my evil would be hunted! Thankfully, I was able to get away by using several of my goons as meat shields. But then these riots started! Crying emoji…”

“Stop.”

“You just earned 4 more emojis for interrupting me.” He announced “You can pick from any variety from this list I picked out-“

I didn’t have time for this. I began to leave.

“No wait! Hinata-senpai!” The boy clung to my waist.

“Ugh! What are you doing?!” I shouted.

“Don’t go senpai! I need you to protect me!”

“What?!” I put my hand on his face in my desperate attempt to yank him off “You said the monokumas weren’t attacking you!”

“But I’m scared! What if they do start attacking?! I can’t face them on my own!”

Tears were spilling from his eyes way too quickly for me not to think it was rehearsed. Still at this point I’d feel bad if I just left him to fend for himself. Plus I don’t think he’d leave me alone even if I wanted.

“Alright… settle down.” I knelt and put my hands on his shoulders “You’re gonna be safe with me. Okay?”

“Promise?” He sniffed.

“I promise.”

“Oh yaaaaaaaay!” He wrapped me in a strangling hug “Hinata-senpai is my hero!”

“Okay okay, personal space.” I pushed him off and this time he complied. “Let’s just get out of here. The smell is starting to get to me.”

“But there’s blood eeeeeeeeeeeverywhere during the tragedy, Hinata-senpai!”

“Don’t remind me.”

We managed to get through the store to outside and clear some monokumas and Ouma wrapped his arms around my waist every time one of those things came close. Good thing he was only 4 feet tall so I could get proper shots. 

“Go go Hinata-senpai!” Ouma jumped up and down with every monokuma eliminated “What a king!”

“I’m glad you’re in a stable set of mind.” I said at one point “But don’t you think you’re too giddy in this situation?”

Every time I came close to vomiting at the sight of blood or a corpse, he’d wave it off and run ahead, and even seemed content with taunting the monokumas who sure enough- didn’t attack him.

“Did you just forget? I’m an evil ruler! Ultimate Despair has nothing on my crimes! I frequently kill, maim, torture-“

“That’s not funny!” I shouted “Don’t you understand the kind of hell this world has become?!”

Kokichi stared at me a little bit. His expression was so blank you’d think he was a mannequin at a store.

“The world wasn’t a nice place before this happened either.” He said calmly.

“H-huh?”

“Even before the Ultimate Despair struck. Capitalism leaving people to die in the streets. Police enforcing corrupt rules. And that place… Hopes Peak, sitting pretty as the worlds hope while every day, it drove people to believe they were worthless.” He stepped forward and I felt the need to step back in tandem “You should know. You were locked in an apartment since before monokumas started littering the streets but you have the look of someone who’s tired of it all. And that scar on your head…” my hands flew up to touch the perfectly cut line “I think we’ve both seen enough to know this world isn’t worth saving.”

He said it with such objective coolness. He was the opposite of  _ him.  _ He’d always let emotions slip into his speech, talks of hope, and ways things ought to be. Why did  _ he  _ keep slipping into my mind? 

But this kid… for an excitable little asshole he sure was showing some jaded views. I know he was close in age to me but…

“No… that’s wrong.”

“Eh?” His eyes widened in shock.

“The world will  _ always _ be worth saving no matter what! If the world wasn’t worth saving just because of a few people on top, that wouldn’t be fair to all those good people living among us! And we don’t deserve for this...” I closed my eyes and motioned in the direction I could remember our last corpse being “To be normal.”

He was quiet for a bit so I opened one of my eyes to get a peek.

“Hey are you asleep!”

“Nope! That’s a lie!” He did jazz hands and smiled “But I must say you are very interesting Hajime Hinata. I’m impressed. I’m glad I tested you!”

“Tested?” I repeated “Wait, that was all-“

“So I could gauge how entertaining you are! And you passed with flying colors!” He booped me on the nose “Congratulations on being not boring! If you were boring I might’ve just thrown you to those monokumas.”

“Why you little…”

“But for what it’s worth…” he turned around before I could chew him out “Your perspective is very nice. Naive. But… nice.”

“...I’ve had some good friends who don’t deserve any of this.” I sighed “One who I know would fight against all this despair every opportunity he gets.”

“... You’d get a kick out of this one Kaito.” He said under his breath. 

“What did you say?”

“What? Do you pry into every persons personal business? Lay off.” He puffed out his cheeks and stormed away with an exaggerated humph. 

“Hey, wait up!” I began picking up my feet to run after him, but then I noticed something. A person crawling and leaving a red stain.

… I had no way of helping that man. I knew that but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. My steps went towards him with heavy weights attached as I stepped towards him. He was alive. I couldn’t just leave him! How many dead bodies was I responsible for?! I had to… at least…

“Hinata-senpai, get over here! That guy is as good as dead!”

“I…” I stepped up to him “I know but-“

I noticed a metallic wristband on his arm. What was that about?

“You…” he looked up at me with tears in his eyes.

“Hi! Uh… is there anything I can-“

“You’re Izuru Kamukura.”

My voice caught in my throat. A series of images were flashing across my mind instead of words. Needles. Electric collars. Scalpels. Sirens blaring as I clumsily stumbled towards the exits. Then…

_ “Need a hand guinea pig?” _

I felt my breathing pick up. But somehow I couldn’t feel any air. I eventually stumbled to the ground because of the lack of air, and at one point I vomited up breakfast.

“Hey!” I could hear Kokichi close by “What did you do to my bodyguard?!”

“I…” I looked down to the man who didn’t even look alive anymore “I’m not…”

There was a sound of distant singing that bought me out of my trance. Kokichi clung to me as a child came out from behind a building in the distance, wearing a helmet with the monokumas likeness on it. A set of Monokumas arrived with them as the child pointed to Kokichi.

“Hinata-senpai…” Kokichi started pulling on me. “Come on!”

“I… but I…”

“Please Hinata-senpai! I don’t wanna die! What do I need to do?! I just-“

The monokumas started running forward. With a screech, Kokichi started trying to carry me but there was no way he was moving me.

“... Get out of here.” I muttered looking at the man I went to save, who stopped moving entirely “Leave me alone.”

“But-“

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

The monokumas were closing in… so he did the sensible thing. Ran. I was still in a trance not noticing the two other children approaching.

“Aw man!” A boy in sporty clothing shouted “I thought I’d get a chance to give him the helmet!”

“Masaru, this isn’t the game.” A boy in a suit said in a disgusted tone.

I looked up at the boys starting to feel dread take root in my chest.

“You…” I immediately recognized them “You’re from the broadcast!”

“Oh hey! I’m famous! Well, since you’re an adult I think we’re just gonna kill you. Monokumas! Atta-“

“Hold on Masaru.” The suited boy held up a hand “This man is Izuru Kamukura.”

He walked up to me while the monokumas were eerily still.

“... No I’m not.” I said through gritted teeth.

“He might be useful to us.” Nagisa said “Let’s just knock him out.”

“I said I’m not-“

Suddenly I was stricken in the back. 3 claws tore through my backside and I spat out blood as I fell forward.

“Come on. Let’s see what Monaca thinks.”

I wanted to get up and fight but I felt so tired. So much had happened to me in such a short time. For once… for once I’d like to have a dream that wasn’t a nightmare. So I closed my eyea hoping I’d never wake up. I didn’t want to deal with this anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My consciousness was slipping in and out. I could hear voices. I even recognized one of them. But I didn’t have enough brain power working for me to do anything except listen.

“You want him spared?”

“If you’ll forgive my selfish request. I know he doesn’t have the power promised by being the selected Izuru Kamukura, so this is entirely on me but…”

“On you is right. You’re our servant. What possible want could you have for some poor unlucky nobody like that?”

“Well see… he’s someone that I lo…”

My consciousness slipped away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“... Hey. Can you hear me?” I heard him. I tried recalling any details possible of the last time I was awake, but for the life of me I couldn’t. There was only that voice that I swore that I had heard before.

My eyes were pressed closed like they were locked shut but I managed to break through. A blurry image was above me that I narrowed my eyes. Focused. Until I saw the person above me and just like that I was wide awake.

“Nagito?!”


	4. Chapter 4

“Nagito! I- I can’t believe it!” I began trying to sit up but a great pain rocketed through every one of my veins.

“You may want to stay down…” He suggested pressing down on my head lightly “That attack you suffered did a number on you. I suppose children would miscalculate how much damage they want to do to knock you out…l

“Ugh…” I followed the motions of his hand and laid down on my back “Nagito what are you doing here? How did you escape the tragedy and Ultimate Despair? How am I alive right now? Is-“ I paused when I noticed something extremely off “Is that a chain leash around your neck?”

“That’s a lot of questions.” He laughed “Well to start from the top… I came to the city for a little refuge and got caught up in the riots. Even captured! But by begging for my life, they agreed to let me be their servant!”

“Whoever  _ they _ is, they didn’t hurt you did they?”

“No no no!” He put out his hands and I noticed one of them had a mitten over it “Well not too badly at least… I’ve been kicked in the knees a few times for failing orders… and they’re not short on verbal abuse… but those are nothing I can’t handle right?”

”I see...” I looked to the side facing the wall “Hey Nagito? The last time we talked I said some shitty things. Can you forgive me?”

“Aw c’mon Hinata-kun… you know I already have.”

“... Idiot.” I muttered but there were tears filling my eyes “You know I thought I’d never see you again. There was a point I thought I wouldn’t even be able to remember you for the rest of my life! I managed to escape before they managed to permanently seal my memories but… I was worried I had hurt someone close to me and couldn’t remember how!” I sniffed “I’m just… I’m really glad to see you.”

“I’m quite pleased by this development too.” Nagito said “Most of the world thinks you’re dead. Or something akin to it at least. It truly is good luck I was able to find you and negotiate your survival! After all the bad luck I had, this is what made it worth it.”

“Negotiate my survival?!” I sat up “What did you have to do?!”

“Well, I talked it over with the leader… the real leader. You’ll piece it together soon. And… we were able to strike up a deal. She’s rather fond of Junko Enoshima, and well, I happened to have some pictures of her from when she was alive.”

“What?!” I looked back at Nagito “How did you get those?!”

“In ways I don’t want to talk about.” He said with a disgusted face.

“You wanted pictures of her that bad?”

“No. I was happy to get rid of them.”

Wow, this was making no sense at all. So a typical conversation with Nagito.

Wait. Did he even know about Junko? When I was captured her involvement in the tragedy wasn’t common knowledge.

“Uh… about Junko Enoshima-“

“I don’t want to talk about her.” He said coldly.

“Alright. Damn.” I guess getting answers out of him wouldn’t be an option “But… with all this… you seem kinda… calm?”

“Just trying to look on the hopeful side.”

“... What happened to everyone else?”

“They aren’t this world's symbols of hope anymore unfortunately.”

Oh god. They were dead. He said it with such a smile that I couldn’t bear it! How bad had things gotten that he could smile through this?

“How are you alive?”

“Simple. I just didn’t die.”

“What have you been doing?!”

“A lot.” He smiled almost in an embarrassed way “You don’t know the half of it. But… at least one good thing has happened in these past two years.”

One good thing. So much had happened, and I was the one good thing.

What had I missed? I never found out anything about my old friends once I went into that operating room. Well it wasn’t a good time to be out there for anyone when the tragedy happened but… no. No no no. This wasn’t right. I could feel it in my gut. Something was horribly wrong.

“What happened to you Nagito…?”

He made a face like a deer caught in headlights that if you didn’t know him you couldn’t spot. A telltale sign he understood the meaning of those words. A sigh ripped through him as he ran the ungloved hand through his hair.

“That is far too long of a story when I have to serve lunch in a few minutes.”

I watched him stand up, the chain clinking as he rose.

“Just get some rest. Let your injury heal. I’ll fill you in at a later point.”

I didn’t object. Just watched him leave and closed my eyes. I was an outsider in this world now. I had to just get used to everything I knew being wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~

_ Memories come back to me in dreams. I know they’re real once I see them. And then I wake up and lament because I remember it, and it had been taken away from me, and in the end it still was because I was stuck locked away somewhere unable to see anyone or make any other memories except for sitting like a rotting husk because of all of this. _

_ Like now, I was remembering Halloween, and groaning when I saw my friends costume. _

_ “Please tell me you aren’t going in that.” _

_ “You said I could be anything.” He said “So I choose to go as a magical girl.” _

_ He was spending way too much time with Sonia. _

_ “Okay whatever.” I tried crossing my arms, but in a store-bought vampire costume that wound up being a size too small that was difficult. “Look, there’s a small neighborhood we can hit up and grab some candy from before we go to your classes Halloween party. You can have your first trick or treating experience and I have a minimum of people asking me why I’m doing so at this age.” _

_ “You really don’t have to do this…” He laughed “I don’t mind.” _

_ “Well… it’s just a fun nostalgic thing. It wouldn’t hurt to relive it… especially going with someone for once.” _

_ “Ah… you’re getting tsundere again.” He chuckled “You know it’s kind of cute.” _

_ “Oh shut up Nagito.” I rolled my eyes before realizing my deadly error. My eyes flew to Nagito, eyes wide, like really wide, like, he looked normal person levels of surprised. _

_ “You… called me by my first name.” _

_ “... I mean. Why not? I’m apparently at the level that I go do something I’m way too old to do with you. So I think we’re close enough friends to do this.” _

_ “Aw… Hinata-kun.” I rolled my eyes at his clear non-realization he could call me Hajime “You’re a real sweet guy underneath the Reserve Courseness.” _

_ I punched him in the arm but the guy did not stop smiling. _

_ “I’m kinda glad for this chance to have a piece of childhood I never got.” He grinned brilliantly “So you don’t have to be ashamed to have it as well.” _

_ “... You say the strangest things.” I turned my head away. _

_ “It’s nice having someone who listens to them.” _

~~~~~~~~~

I woke up looking around. It struck me in that moment how little things had changed. I was in a place I knew nothing about, while the world went to shit outside, and I was just sitting there unable to do anything not even sure I would be safe. I managed to work up the strength to stand and gasped at the pain, but that wouldn’t stop me. I managed to look down and see some sloppily applied bandages. I stepped out the rooms door, coming across a ramp. Down below were children playing.

Wait.

“You?!” I stepped back a little too far which caused me to collapse in pain. From there I heard voices.

“Is he up?”

“Wow! He healed so quick! Like a superhuman!”

“Real live superhero huh? Well I wanna get a load of him.”

I tried pulling myself together enough to get up and run and got half into a sitting position before I started wondering where the hell would I run? I spent a little too long deliberating over this before the kids from the broadcast were looking down at me with a set of glares and disgusted looks, and I even picked out the children who attacked me.

“Do we really have to keep a second adult around?”

“The servant wasn’t this scared looking when we captured him.”

“Leave me alone!” I tried flailing my arm in my attempt to vanquish the foul threat “Who are you?! And why have you-“

“Don’t worry. You’re safe here.”

I watched the girl in the wheelchair from the broadcast wheeling her chair over, the other four parting a way for her in unison. She came up to me, and as I backed away, I felt a familiar sense of being towered over.

“So… tell us about yourself big bro.”


	5. Chapter 5

Nagito ran the fingers of his ungloved hand across the mirror. He looked like hell, for lack of a better word.

“I should’ve known he was alive…” he sighed rubbing his eyes with the glove “Why did I ever believe anything out of that girls mouth?”

It was minuscule pickings really. One drop taken out of the bucket of his desp-

He killed that thought before it could finish up. He never gave up hope. His face stretched into a wide grin and looked at his eyes swirling in the mirror. He let out a laugh his fingers moving down the glass as he doubled over.

“Screw you!” He shouted not caring about the vulgarity “You thought I wouldn’t find out? Thought I’d just  _ give in?  _ Well look now! I can outlast any of the  _ hell _ you put me through! All this despair is a stepping stone to hope!”

He continued laughing until he managed to start choking from the excess. He managed to swallow his gags and stood up tracing his finger along his chain.

“You can torture me, even past your own death… I may have surrendered every bit of my soul to you… but you can NEVER break me.”

He continued cackling for a few moments, that slowly subsided and he was left alone in the bathroom with the unmistakable noise of  _ her _ laughter ringing in his ears. Ugh. If anything could distract him from that…

“LEAVE ME ALONE! I’M NOT SCARED OF YOU!” He heard screaming outside.

Nagito sighed, placing his gloved hand on his hip.

“What is that reserve course idiot doing now?”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I don’t know what you did to Nagito or what you’re going to do to me, but I won’t sit down and take it!”

“Hey! You better not be talking to Monaca like that!” Pink pigtails stepped forward and stuck out her tongue “If you make her angry, you’re out of here!”

I looked at the other girls expression. It was an inviting smile, but malicious intent was laced in it. Like she was telling me _ “Yeah. Go ahead. Make me mad. See what happens.” _

“I…” I gulped down my fear “Who… are you?”

“We’re…” the masked boy started-

“The Warriors of Hope!” Sports child stepped in front of him “And I’m the leader!”

He pointed a finger to the sky like he was trying to overdramatify his point to a ridiculous degree.

“I’m the super duper leader who unites the Warriors of Hope with a bang! Masaru Daimon!” He shouted way too loudly “My special subject was PE so they called me Li’l Ultimate PE!”

“Ultimate…?” I repeated “You mean like-“

“Yep! Ultimate PE! I’m the PE King who can do every exercise ever! Running non-stop 24/7/365 is easy as pie!”

“Do you mean Ultimate as in-“

“Don’t talk over me demon!” He propped a foot up on my leg. I think it was to be intimidating but his whiny face and lack of oomph due to being I’d say 10 years old did more to quell my fear than raise it. And that childish declaration...

“Demon?”

“Demon!” He shot back at me “Oh! I almost forgot! My job in the Warriors of Hope is the Hero! And as Hero and the leader, I’m gonna be the new ruler of this town!”

“Okay, but if you’ll let me talk…” I pushed the kids leg off “Do you mean Ultimate as in-“

“Hey! You should show respect for me! ‘Cause I’m the leader!”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes “I heard.”

“He doesn’t ever shut up about that.” Pigtails whined “It’s seriously annoying.”

“Hey! I’m still the leader!”

“Only because you won at drawing straws.” 

“Who cares!? I’m the leader!”

I wouldn’t trust this kid to lead a school project but that was a thought best kept to myself.

“So by Ultimate… do you mean Hopes Peak?” 

“Of course.” The boy in the suit put a hand on his hip “You must have heard of Hopes Peak Elementary.”

“Well… yeah. Isn’t it some nepotist breeding ground to pick out talented people’s kids and studying them to make them future Ultimates?”

“Heh.” Pigtails smiled “I like this guy.”

“That is a basic summary yes.” Suit sighed “So why are you asking questions like that?”

“Well it was hard to find information on. There were a lot of nasty rumors about the place and…” 

Actually now may have been a good time to stop talking.

“... I’m sure you of all people should know no rumor you hear is too far for Hopes Peak.”

_ Well you don’t have room to lecture me about going to far because you stabbed me _ I thought angrily but again, that was something to keep in my mind right now.

“Uh… sorry to hear that.” I said although did I  _ really _ feel sorry for this kid who seemed to have some kind of superiority complex and had a bunch of deaths on his hands?

… Don’t give me that face.

The boy took a refined posture, like he was at a job interview or something.

“My name is Nagisa Shingetsu. In the Warriors of Hope I act as vice leader and Sage.” He said keeping up that job interview flare “When I attended Hopes Peak Elementary, I was Li’l Ultimate Social Studies. Of course Social Studies is but one area of my expertise.” he held out a finger and I now knew this guy had a superiority complex. “I excel at all scholarly pursuits. And I was labeled Li’l Ultimate Social Studies because I was raised to be among society's elite. And… I suppose I am a babysitter of sorts for the Warriors of Hope. Monaca excluded.”

“That’s code for no fun at all.” Pigtails snickered.

“It’s code for bully him cause he’s the worst!” PE declared.

“Case in point.”

“Monaca thinks you’re wonderful Nagisa.” Wheelchair smiled.

“Oh…” his face turned red as a tomato “Thank you Monaca.”

“Sometimes Nagisa throws away my art supplies.” Mask said tearfully.

“Because you leave it all over the floor!”

“And nobody cares about  _ your _ stuff Jatarou.” Pigtails sneered.

“Aw man… everyone is hating me again…” he muttered “If I introduce myself next… will that make everyone hate me too?”

“Yes.” Pigtails said.

“Definitely.” PE declared.

“Okay! Then Monaca! Can I go next?”

“Of course Jatarou.”

“Awesome!” He looked at me “So uh… You know how when you stare into moving bicycle spokes you get all scared? Like for some reason you imagine how painful it’d be to put your hand in… Oh um. My name is Jatarou Kemuri. And bird skin isn’t yummy no matter how you cook it.”

“... What?”

“I was really good at arts and crafts, so they called me Li’l Ultimate Art. If it’s arts and crafts, leave it to me. I can remove nails, and varnish, and things…” he muttered “I do the priest thing for the Warriors of Hope… Oh and also!” He looked straight into my eyes “I wonder if aliens exist.”

“Who wants to spend time thinking of slimy green aliens?” Pigtails cringed “Sooooooo not cute.”

“I painted an alien once…” Mask said “So you can hate me more for that right?”

“Ew ew ew! It’s up to me to balance this out!” Pigtails shouted “Ahoy! A girl!”

Oh yeah. Of the people who had made introductions (and I wasn’t gonna refer to them by their names thank you very much so stop asking) she was the first girl. I think I’ve seen this trope before…

Wait trope? Was I delusional from blood loss or something?

“My name is Kotoko Utsugi, and I play the Fighter in the Warriors of Hope! You might think the fighter would be a boy but nope! I’m totally a girl! I love girly things and peeled chestnuts! If it’s totally adorbs I looooove it!” She shouted ‘love’ in a singing voice “And I was pampered as a part of Li’l Ultimate Drama! But who cares about that old stuff?” She stood on one foot leaning forward “I’m so happy to meet you!”

“... Thanks.” I muttered out since that seemed better than not giving her an answer.

“Okay. Now Monaca goes!” Wheelchair came forward again and looking at her smile down at me I felt fear again. Someone less developed might not notice but I sensed in her eyes complete and total apathy. Behind that pleasant smile her eyes looked cold and empty like they didn’t experience empathy, or anger, or even happiness. On a child, that was the worst thing you could see. “Monaca is called Monaca! Monaca’s a mage for the Warriors of Hope.”

Monaca… that was a name I was going to think of every time I had nightmares tonight.

“I was given a title as Li’l Ultimate Homeroom. You might think there’s no Ultimates or commons in a class like Homeroom but there are!” She closed her eyes with a smile “For me, my skill isn’t really about uniting people.” She opened them to look at me with a knowing smirk “it’s about getting them all to help me.”

Sweat ran down my brow.

“Believe it or not, I bring together a lot of wonderful people…” She said tilting her head “It would be nice if you could be a wonderful person for Monaca too.”

“I…” I looked at the other kids faces. They had expectant looks for me. “I…”

“That was very nice all of you.” I gasped and looked up as Nagito stepped on the ramp “But I think it’s time Hinata-kun goes back to resting to recover his injury.”

“Nagito!” I tried to stand but just fell on my back.

“Hey! We’re not done with him yet!” Pigtails shouted.

“True… but if you push him like this, he just might go into shock and die and then, no more playing. Wouldn’t that be sad?” He proposed.

“Who cares?!”

“Well, I think we should let him rest.” Monaca said “Don’t you?”

“O-oh! Sorry Monaca! I won’t defy you again!” Kotoko shouted “Servant! Take him to his room immediately.”

“Of course.” He took a bow before kneeling down next to me “... can you stand?”

“Nope. Don’t think so.” I muttered “Help.”

“Right on it.” He reached out to my hand with the ungloved one and I took it and let him stand me up but I immediately stumbled into him.

“Ah! Hinata-kun!”

“Sorry… just… put my arm around your shoulder. That’ll help me walk.”

“Huh? Isn’t that kind of…”

“It’s fine. Gee…” 

Nagito turned red, but he managed to nod and place my arm around him. I noticed during our short walk that the brats were staring. Pigtails whispered something into PE’s ear.

“So you’re just. Babysitter for these brats?” I asked once I managed to get back on the cot.

“Well technically Nagisa calls himself the babysitter.” Nagito claimed.

“You know what I- oh, never mind…” Chances were he didn’t. I’d also ask him why he’s trying to play nice with murderers but again. No room to talk. “You’re the Hopes Peak fanatic right? What can you tell me about Hopes Peak Elementary?”

“Well… despite Hopes Peak having a very public image Hopes Peak Elementary is mostly known through rumors so I can’t say much. It’s known they raise former Ultimates and other successful people’s children to study and see if they’re fit for Hopes Peak with a small set of categories based on normal school classes. And then it pulses into rumors about experimentation, constant surveillance, and a myriad of cases of students taking their own lives.”

“Did anything get confirmed since the tragedy?” I asked.

“No. It was destroyed like the rest of the academy.” He said “With the place reduced to rubble we can’t exactly divine anything.”

“Jeez. I’d pay to never have to hear about Hopes Peak ever again.” I muttered.

“By the way I’ve been meaning to ask…” Nagito stood up “What have you been doing?”

… if I told him the role I played in this fuckfest he’d hate me.

“I was locked up for a year. Just got out when the riots hit.”

“And before that?” He questioned “How did you escape the project? Everyone thought it had already happened. And I can see that scar on your head.”

“... I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“... Okay.” He nodded turning around “I’ll leave you be-“

“Wait.” I grabbed his hand. I knew it was selfish of me but… “Can you stay here while I try to get some rest? Just till I fall asleep.”

His eyes went down. I noticed the hand I took, the hand with the glove, was so unnaturally cold when I felt it. But I didn’t mention that. Just looked into his eyes waiting for an answer. 

“... Any time Hinata-kun.”

He sat down and I grinned closing my eyes. At one point I noticed Nagito quietly switch from the glove to his uncovered hand. Still cold and clammy but it felt so much more right. I managed to drift off enough as I listened to Nagito’s low hums.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 is finally all posted! It may be a while before part 2 comes out since I’m trying to distance myself a bit from Danganronpa. Thanks for reading this far and I hope to see you all later. Also the pancakes scene in this chapter is based off a chapter of the anthology! So that’s neat!

Nagito came in sometimes, checking on my condition, though he wasn’t exactly Tsumiki in terms of doctorial work. I just appreciated having him around, but I did get a chill every time he bought a home cooked meal. 

After a few days I was able to walk around. Nagito offered me alternatives to my bloodstained garments. Jeans so dark they looked black, and a green and black striped top put together by a brown short sleeved jacket that went down to my knees. My tie fortunately didn’t get any blood on it so I wore it with pride as a piece of clothing that I wasn’t borrowing from my old school friend.

Of course, those little brats put me to work for them if I wanted to stay safe under their roof. I had to make their posters (read: propaganda) and Suit called me for work on the architecture for their ‘paradise for children’ at one point.

“The monokuma bus will be the method of transport.” He said calmly “Does it sound practical to you?”

“Yeah, sounds fine.” I said in a bored voice.

“Good. Now there’s going to be several new buildings the other children suggested that I’m figuring out how to make. At Jatarous request, the ice cream shop won’t be upheaved. As he said, ‘the ice cream did nothing wrong.’” He glared at me when I snorted “Those are his words, not mine. I think it’s a ridiculous notion.”

“Really? I thought you would be happy to have an ice cream shop.” I said almost forgetting my place and laughing at the little kid talking like a trained businessman.

“I am!” He retorted “As long as it’s in moderation. I meant Jatarous stupid comment! Jeez…”

For someone who hated adults he was surprisingly a lot like one for his age. I shrugged it off and looked at the architecture plans.

“These are pretty structurally sound. You must’ve studied this stuff a lot.”

“... I did.” He said it in a dark voice.

“Do you… like it?” I didn’t know what that tone meant.

“... No.” He said firmly. That was my signal not to press him.

“Well for someone who’s so good at the technicals you’re surprisingly lacking in the stuff kids would enjoy.” I looked at the map “You've worked out ways to get around without cars, and what to make buildings out of but it looks kind of corporate. I’d think a kids paradise would include a bunch of stuff just to be ‘fun’”

“Practicality is important!” He snapped “Don’t lecture me on how to be a kid demon!”

“Don’t be too harsh on him Nagisa.”

I froze up while Suit whirled around at breakneck speed. But I had a hunch that I was more afraid than him.

“Monaca!” He shouted “What are you doing here?” 

“Monaca just wanted to speak to Servants Boyfriend.”

“Can you give me literally any other name?” The brats had decided to dub me with Servants Boyfriend because apparently calling me by name was just too much.

“Nope! Sorry!” She smiled “Just come with Monaca.” She spun her chair around leaving and I sighed standing up lest I wanted to get torn apart by a monokuma.

“... I may seem ‘mature’ to you or something…” Suit spoke in low tones “But I will NEVER be an adult.”

That statement left me with so many questions, but Monaca was waiting. I walked off without a word.

“What do you want?”

“That’s a harsh tone…” She cooed softly “Maybe you should dial it back a bit.”

I felt a growl in my throat. I’d been taken in by manipulators before. In succession might I add. I hated having to bargain for my life with this child.

“... Mm. You’re so typical.” She sighed “One look at Monaca and you already hate her.”

“Why’d you pull me aside?” I questioned.

“I want you to keep away from servant.”

I was caught way off guard. An out of left field talking piece that punched me in the stomach.

“Why… do you-“ 

“Sike! You can talk to him all you want for all Monaca cares. But…” she smiled “Now Monaca knows from your reaction that being separated from him will reeeeeally hurt you. I’ll give the order to kill him for disobedience rather than you.”

My blood turned to ice.

“No- I mean- he’s just an old school friend! We haven’t talked in years, there’s nothing between us!” I shouted.

“Okay. So should I just kill him now?”

“N-no! Please don’t!”

She grinned. I felt like a fly in a spiders web. Helpless and preparing to be eaten.

“Okay. If you get on your knees and beg, Monaca won’t send Monokumas after him!”

I trembled for a moment. Got on my knees. Faced the ground.

“Please don’t kill him. Not after he saved me.”

“Mm… you know I suspected this amount of care, but it’s good to have confirmation.” I heard her voice say, like a cold tin machine processing information “I’ll see to it that this is your condition for helping us. And Monaca sure doesn’t want you to try and plan an escape with him so don’t even try it.”

… There went the plans I’d been working on. I trembled as she wheeled away. God fucking damn it. I couldn’t even run away by myself because Nagito was just gonna get killed in my place. The kids used the husband to trap me!

… The husband is meant figuratively of course since- you know what never mind.

I managed to stand up and amble back to Suit who just regarded me with a simple look back and turning away.

“I’m hungry. Get me a snack. Servant can’t cook to save his life.”

Really not liking that choice of words but I’d take any excuse not to talk to these kids. I hazily made my way to the kitchen, my heart only half in it.

And I arrived upon disaster.

“Servant! Stand back! I’ll handle this!”

“I appreciate the sentiment Utsugi but are you equipped to handle fire?!”

“Of course! You just get water don’t you?”

“No Utsugi! That’ll just make it worse! We need salt!” 

“But that’ll ruin the pancakes!”

“What the hell is going on in here!” I screamed pointing at the giant fire on the stove.

“I can make pancakes better than him!” Pigtails screamed “Just watch!”

“The salt is in here!” Nagito grabbed a huge tin of the stuff “Utsugi! You must employ it!”

Pigtails caught the salt as Nagito tossed it to her, a tear going down her face.

“I’m sorry pancakes…” 

She poured the salt in the pan and sure enough it put out the fire. Nagito was pretty experienced with this stuff.

“Okay…” I walked up to where the fire once was crossing my arms “I’ll reiterate. What the hell happened here?”

“Well Servant can’t cook!” Pigtails pointed at him angrily “So I wanted to make my own pancakes!”

“Uh-Huh…” I looked at the hotcake sitting on the pan. With the horrible burns, the salt covering it, and the still runny liquid coming from the side they looked just as disgusting as something Nagito made.

“... You better not say what I think you’re going to say.” Pigtails glared at me.

“What? I wasn’t gonna say anything!”

She sighed and turned off the stove. 

“This is the worst pancake ever. You don’t have to say that.”

“Making a little girl doubt herself…” Nagito crossed his arms “Not cool Hinata-kun.”

“Oh can it!” I took the bowl with the batter, using the spatula to flip some in his face, but then it fell out of my grasp. I gasped making a move to catch it but the plastic bowl rolled onto the ground spilling batter. Pigtails stared at it. Oh god. Was  _ this  _ going to be how I killed my best friend?

“... I’m full of rage right now.” She said blankly.

“Uh… you don’t sound too mad…” I muttered hoping that was a negotiation piece. 

“Of course not. I’m acting.” She looked up “I’m angry. And I don’t have any cooking skills! I have to rely on stupid adults to cook instead!” Her features turned angry “... But it’s fine really. I’m just acting.”

“I thought you said-“

“You can clean this up Servant.”

She looked so heartbroken over some damn pancakes. Kids I guess. I looked up at Nagito trying to figure out a way to handle the situation… when he tore a piece of the pancake off of the pan with his ungloved hand and popped it in his mouth.

“... You know, It’s rare for me to eat things others have cooked.” He smiled chewing on the hotcake “There's restaurant food, but never a home cooked meal. See, my parents died when I was young.”

“... You’re better off without them.” Pigtails muttered. What an insensitive little brat.

“I won’t spend time debating with you over that fact. I just want you to know I’m happy to enjoy this.” Nagito smiled “And I’d love some moACK!”

He spat up blood.

“Oh my god! Servant!”

“Nagito!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me and pigtails guided Nagito to his quarters and got him into bed.

“Well, thankfully by the end of the day you should be fine Nagito.” I crossed my arms “Don’t do something like that again.”

“I can’t believe you would do that!” Pigtails yelled “You’re so stupid! And dumb!”

“Don’t be rude kid. Nagito, just get your rest.” I stepped outside but didn’t leave. I didn’t know what pigtails would do alone with him, but I wasn’t gonna let them go that easy. I leaned my back against the closed door to listen to whatever was inside.

“I can’t BELIEVE you!” Pigtails shouted “You went and got sick for me?!”

“Sorry. I can’t serve you when I’m like this. And when I’m supposed to be doing that…” 

“... Stupid demon. Not like the ones who were gentle with me…” I heard footsteps. Time to get out. “They only cared about how I helped them…”

I made it off and remembered oh yeah. Nagisa’s snack. Kitchen… kitchen… kitchen… 

I stepped into the kitchen and saw PE standing on top of Masks shoulders to get something from the cabinet.

“Hey, do you kids know what Nagisa likes?”

“Sweets.” PE said “Like parfaits.”

“Any way I could make one of those?”

“If you help us get the sea weed out of the cabinet I’ll tell you!”

“You like sea weed?”

“Well, Masaru does.” Mask said “I’m just having him stand on my shoulders to help.”

“Jesus.” I opened the cabinet they were reaching and grabbed some sea weed “You like this stuff?”

“Yeah! It makes me have muscles like these!” PE flexed. They were about as toned as you’d expect a ten year olds arms to be.

“Well, here’s your damn seaweed.” I handed it to him and he gleefully jumped from masks shoulders taking it, cheering and falling on top of Mask.

“Masaru, can you get off…? You’re making my face feel itchy…” I heard Mask mumble.

“I can take that thing off and give it a clean if you want.” I suggested. Mostly for my sake. That thing reeked.

“Huh? No way!” Mask sat up holding his arms high “If anyone sees me without my mask, their eyes will burn out of their sockets, and they’ll be so blind and sad they’ll walk onto the subway tracks!”

Hoo boy. He sounded like Nagito on HIS self-deprecating rants.

“I just wanna-“

“They’ll scream so hard their lungs will get tired and fall off their chest and they’ll DIE!”

“Will you stop-“

“You’ll throw up all your organs!”

“Okay!” I screamed “Whatever.”

“If you hate Jatarou, then it’s okay.” PE smiled “We all hate him.”

“Duly noted.” I opened the freezer looking for some damn ice cream to make some parfait. But of course that PE shit punched me in the legs.

“Ow!” I screamed. He packed a real punch for a toddler “What?!”

“You sounded like you weren’t listening.” He said haughtily “So I’m getting your attention.”

I rubbed my forehead mumbling some words I should not be saying around kids, then turned to him.

“Okay. What do you wanna tell me?”

“Well… Monaca has a new friend. I wanna meet him. See if I can train with him.” He smiled “So… referee our fight.”

“... Sure.” I said through gritted teeth. We walked past Mask who was still eloquently describing the details of what would happen if he took his mask off.

Not that PE was a much better conversationalist. He kept shouting how he was gonna beat the poor sap who enlisted in this cult, but then getting sad because that meant he couldn’t train with him, and then looping back to wanting to beat him, and it kinda went in circles for a long time. 

Still we made our way to the common room, a few kids in Monokuma helmets surrounding a person while Monaca sat with a patient look on her face.

I then heard a voice.

“Let go of me! I’m not letting you take me!”

“... It can’t be…” I whispered “Ouma?”

I watched the kids surround the boy, his white clothes stained with blood, his purple hair frazzled and greasy. He was just trying to get away from the horde of people just a little under his size, and screeching like a banshee.

“... Monaca!” I ran up to her “Why are you calling this boy a new recruit? He clearly doesn’t want in!”

“Of course he wants in! He’s a kid, and not being a kid just means you die to a monokuma.” She smiled up at me “So the only option is working with us!”

“But… you can’t… how are you going to-“

“Hinata-senpai?!” 

I almost didn’t want to wrench my head over and look at the person I was sitting back and doing nothing to help but I looked over anyways.

“Hinata-senpai! Listen! These helmets the kids are wearing are mind controlling! And they’re-“ he was cut off as a kid pinned him to the ground, and he dedicated all his energy to getting free.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” PE chanted jumping up and down, not a shred of remorse in his eyes.

“Hey listen!” I shouted at Monaca spinning her chair around “This has to stop immediately!”

“Well… I suppose I can let him go. But then what to do with your other friend…” She whispered “I guess you can decide which one to spare!”

“I-“ I looked over at Ouma. He had tears in his eyes as he screeched trying to crawl free.

“... I’m sorry Ouma.” I muttered “Monaca, may I be dismissed?”

“You may!” She smiled. I walked off but I didn’t pay much attention to where my feet were carrying me. It was happening again. I was trapped. Helpless. Rotting away while people died. Nothing had changed. I was still that pathetic boy who instigated the tragedy then stood locked away.

I realized where my feet had carried me. Nagito’s door.

Well… at least I wasn’t alone.

I opened the door and stepped in. Nagito greeted me with his brightest smile.

“Hinata-kun! What brings you here?”

“I…” I stared at him and felt tears filling my eyes “This place is awful… I’m scared.”

“Are you… crying?”

I ran up to him collapsing and grabbing the gloved hand.

“I just… I need to stay by you for a moment…”

“... Well I can’t turn you down.”

I sat by Nagito for the longest time, though it was probably just a few minutes, bawling my eyes out. I was a bad person. I was letting this happen. I didn’t know what I would do with myself…

But I looked at Nagito’s face.

“... Nagito. Do you remember what you said to me a long time ago?”

“I’m afraid that’s way too general.”

“You said… that as long as there’s despair, hope will go against it.” I muttered “I think I’m going to take that to heart.”

I stood up, letting go of his hand and walked out of the room, drying my tears and looking out with fury. I was going to dismantle this entire operation from the inside, or else my name wouldn’t be Hajime Hinata.

~~It’d be Izuru Kamukura~~.


End file.
